They had come with the latest tide. Their ships with metallic hulls had pierced the waves in silence unusual for such gargantuan vessels, yet they had touched the shores soft like a feather falling on a pillow. The gates forming the bow of the ships opened with low shrieks that were covered by the sounds of the nearby sea.

From within those vessels, emerged massive groups of muscular soldiers wearing plates of armor placed randomly above their thick leather tunics. Some were riding massive drakes the size of a work horse, while most of the others were on foot. Under the cover of the night, those pirates marched in direction of a small settlement a few hundreds of meters away from the sea.

When the sentinels spotted the Dracans through the dark night, their forces were already too close to the walls. The leading rider blew a long, deep note of his horn before his troops throw themselves towards the Equestrian settlement.

Their attack took the small garrison of the local guard by surprise. The drake-riders made their mounts climb over the fifteen foot tall wooden walls that circled the village with their sharp claws.

One jumped down to the gate, facing two Eponian militia-men that pointed their spears at the scaly beast. The Dracan simply smirked and gave small tap on the neck of drake before jumping out of saddle.

The dark green lizard lunged forward with a loud, terrifying, feral roar, ignoring the spears’ ends that simply flattened at the contact of its natural scale armor. Before the two Equestrian could even react to the breaking of their weapons, the drake crushed one under its massive forepaw and mauled the other’s with its large jaws.

Its rider chuckled gloomily at the baneful doom of the two spearmen before being interrupted when a bolt of blue energy threw his beastial partner against a nearby boulder in a loud bang. He snapped his head toward where the bolt had come from, his gaze falling on an armored man holding a sword in his right hand while his left was glowing in the blue hue as the magical missile from a few seconds earlier.

The Dracan drew his own, black iron blade out of its sheath and advanced toward his opponent. The pillager’s reptilian irises focusing their gaze on the light azure gem embedded in the center of the Titanian’s breastplate.

The man from Draconia stroke first, his iron sword clashing against the Equestrian steel with so much strength the Titanian almost let go of his weapon. The pair duelled with great fervor for a few, exchanging thrusts and parries every seconds until the Titanian managed to strike at the Dracan’s neck, only to see his sword bounce back against a set of bright red scales that replaced the tanned skin of the pillager in the blink of an eye.

"Det var sjovt, men legetiden er forbi!" [It was good, but playtime’s over!]

The Dracan let out in his mother tongue before his now scaly and clawed hand ripped the jewel off the breastplate of his opponent, then he pushed the Titanian away from him. The Equestrian stumbled backwards for a few steps before he focused his magic into a large blue ball.

"Angrib!" [Attack!] The Dracan called casually when his opponent was about throw his magic sphere at him, his eyes focused on the blue gem between his fingers that were returning to their human form.

A sharp hiss came from the right of the Guard. He tried to look at what it was, but he was engulfed in a torrent of flame coming from the drake who had recovered from, and hadn’t appreciated being thrown away. The plunderer put the gem away while his former adversary’s screams of pain died down in the flames of his mount, then headed for the gates to cut the beam that kept them closed.

"Tag hvad i vil! Brænd det hele ned til grunden! Lad intet være tilbage!" [Take what you want! Burn everything to the ground! Leave nothing behind!] He shouted loudly as the heavy gates were busted open by his comrades on foot.

Once the gates open, the Dracans did what they did best, what they were meant to do, what they were born to do. The undying feeling of greed that tainted their souls was what drove them forward. That was the curse that came along with Zirnitra’s blessing.

The strength given to push Discord away was what transformed the once proud and peaceful kingdom into a nation full of plunderers and pirates. The Dracans' lust for treasures was as great, if not greater, than the one of the oldest dragons whose hoards were said to be the size of a small mountain and yet were still considered too little by the fire-breathing behemoths.

The richesses of Equestria already attracted the Great Dragon Migration. It was only a matter of time before their 'children' would follow suit. They had raided the shores of Equestria for some time now, always heading further to the North of the continent, in search of the richest province, the only ''Kingdom'' left within the Equestrian territories, Platinum’s jewel, the Crystal Empire.

In their quest for the mythical city with walls made of the purest gemstones, if rumors were to be true, Dracans kept raiding Equestria, hoping to get informations on the location of such a realm of treasures. Though the loots they got during their plunders, even without reaching for the Empire, were quite sufficient to satisfy their greed, if only for a bit.

The Dracans had pushed back the militia and the remaining citizens to the village square. Women and children were holding each other in fear behind the relative safety offered by the circle of guards around them.

Chuckling darkly, the drake-riders rounded around the survivors, their mounts hissing or snapping their jaws at them, while the Dracan infantry pressed forward. The commander of the expedition, the one that had allowed the opening of the gates, snapped his fingers to order his troops to finish the job.

It was then that a loud, rumble came from above, startling everyone in the village of Vanhoover. Everyone looked up to see massive, black stormclouds covering the sky who had been relatively clear until now. With a long murmur from the wind, the clouds started to twirl to one point in the sky. Just above the group of Equestrian survivors.

Every gasped in shocked when the swirling clouds suddenly extended toward the villagers. The dark steam touched the ground along with a powerful clap of thunder that made every drake and Dracan take a few steps back.

The descended clouds quickly dissipated themselves to show that in front of the beat up and exhausted militias stood a few rows of soldiers in night blue armors, all with wings spread open on their back, their faces hidden by the scary masks they wore along with their helmets.

Equestria’s Lunar Guard had arrived, and every Dracan around couldn’t stop themselves from gulping nervously at their arrival. It wasn’t much that they feared Equestrian soldiers, no matter how skilled or famous they were, though the Lunar Guard had one rule that was known of all and that made them dangerous on a whole different level:

The Lunar Guard was never deployed without its mistress.

“Good evening, sirs,” a woman called from behind the invaders’ ranks.

All Dracan heads turned to look at where the voice came from, seeing a pale woman in a black and blue armor, holding her helmet casually in her left hand while her right was resting on the pommel of a sword whose hilt had symbols showing the lunar phases engraved in it. Her narrow, feline, teal irises swept sternly over the suddenly uneasy plunderers while her wavy deep purple hair flowed beautifully at the small breeze.

A few feet at behind the armored woman’s right, stood a small, younger-looking woman, barely out of her adolescent years, with a thick brown cloak covering all her body. The hood of her cloak was off, letting her fluffy, azul streaked and white hair visible along with her snow white skin. Her eyes were fogged by a white hue, revealing the woman’s blindness. She was also carrying a long staff akin to a shepherd’s crook.

“The High Princess Luna Selenia Faustborn of Equestria has arrived,” the young woman announced solemnly, while Luna drew her pure, silvery white blade out of its sheath. “Lay down your weapons before her or…”

The leader of the Dracans growled at the offense that the Princess didn’t even bother to speak to them before he hit the side of his mount. The drake leapt above his master’s troops to land between them and the two women of Equestria, then he let out a powerful stream of fire at the pair.

A second later, the fiery inferno suddenly stopped as ice spikes started to take the place of flames before the frozen fire shattered into a mist of tiny snowflakes, revealing the blind woman extending her crook forward with light-made greyish wings spread on her back.

“I think that covers the part of your attempt at a pacific solution, my dear Snowdrop?” The Night Princess asked casually to her herald.

“I suppose it does, your Highness,” Snowdrop admitted with a sigh. “Feel free to use your method.” she added before stepping aside.

Luna nodded eagerly before her right hand was surrounded by a white fog and she swept her sword at the rider that had just attacked them. The silvery blade suddenly extended forward to ensnare both the drake and the Dracan riding it.

“SOLDIERS, DESTROY OUR ENEMIES!” Luna’s order in her Royal Canterlot Voice shook the ground around her as she pulled her sword strongly, dicing her targets in pieces.

All the troops wearing the blue armor of Luna’s personal guards spread their wings and used them to charge at the Dracans, some with their weapons raised, others with their fists surrounded by Jupitarian shapes.

The confrontation between the Lunar Guards, supported by now exalted militiamen, and the Dracan Raiders was extremely violent. Clashes of steel against scale, of lightning against fire, or of sword against shield resonated through the village square.

Luna couldn’t prevent her grin as she beheaded a drake that was about to breath fire at her with her extensible sword. Since she had been trained by Hurricane, eons ago, Luna’s interest in the art of war had only grown. For centuries she practiced many forms of fighting styles, even founded many different swordsmanship schools over the generations.

There was an odd, but amazing feeling in her whenever she was fighting; a sense of freedom like no other when she passed her opponent’s defense; a skip of heart akin to meeting your one true love whenever she gave a lethal blow; a profound sense of accomplishment whenever she saw her enemy fall dead on the ground.

The Dracans tried to outflank her while the head and body of the defeated drake fell on the ground before her. One went to plunge his sharp, dragon claws in her right side, where the armor was weaker, while the other brought his axe to her neck.

Amateurs! Luna thought in a condescending tone.

Her eyes shone in pure white light for a brief moment. Her deep blue wings appeared on her back, and when they spread wide open, a strong gush of wind bursted from between the princess and her attackers, catapulting the two of them before they could hit her.

With a powerful stomp on the ground and a strong flap of her wings, Luna took off, cutting through the two Dracans she had sent flying a few seconds ago on her way up.

From the sky, she managed to get an overview of the battlefield: The Dracans were fighting her guards with a ferocity worthy of their guardian beasts, but they weren’t fighting for the village’s valuables anymore. They had pushed back the Dracans past the gates.

Many raiders broke the fight and simply ran back to their ships, on which the crew members were already getting ready for the casting off.

From the ground, Snowdrop heard the rumbling of the thunderclouds growing slightly deeper and more intense. Many wouldn’t have noticed it, but the blind woman’s ears were a lot more sensitive due to her conditions. She raised her hand for the Lunar guards to stop going after the retreating enemies, which they did almost immediately.

Luna watched them leave with a disgusted frown before putting her sword back in its sheath, her eyes brightly glowing white and her wings spread widely on her back. The thunderclouds growled loudly as many electric sparks coursed through them while the three ships had left the rivage already since the fleeing raiders had finished embarking.

“Cowards!” Luna shouted at the fleeing fleet, her magically amplified voice trembling in anger. “You dare attack our people and think you can simply sail away?! UNACCEPTABLE!”

Luna’s anger tore the skies apart as a gigantic thunderbolt parted from the clouds just above her. The lightning reached for the top of the middle ship’s mainmast. Then, It separated into many electric arcs that rained down the three ships and their passengers, lighting the former ablaze and frying the latter along with their scaly mounts.

The stormclouds above Vanhoover dissipated themselves, letting the light of the Moon shine on a now quiet, but still wrecked village. As the burning ships were slowly sinking into the depths of the sea, Luna flew down to her guards, her hair changing from its purple hue to its usual starry blue while her irises abandoned their narrow, feline form to a more wide and circular shape.

“Take care of our wounded,” the Princess ordered, her gaze wandering over the many hurt soldiers and the many more dead bodies of Vanhoover’s inhabitants and militiamen. “As well as our dead,” she added in a deep, genuine sadness.

Soon after, most soldiers of the Lunar Guard scattered across the village-turned-battlefield along with the princess, searching through the debris for fortunate survivors, though that was hardly the case. The remaining troops took off to conjure a small patch of rainclouds to extinguish the dozen of burning buildings.

During her search, Luna walked in the smoking ruins of a stable, finding nothing but cindered horses and the half burned body of a boy. The boy had all his right side burned to a crisp, showing clearly that the stable lad had experienced the destructive power of dragon fire before the beast left him there to die along with the horses he was trying to save. Or maybe he was hiding there, hoping that no one would find him in the stable. Luna would never know.

Many would have covered their nose from the smell of the carbonized, human flesh, but Luna didn’t. She wanted to engrave that smell in her mind, so that she would always remember how failure would smell like. So that she’d always remember that she and her sister could never be allowed to back down in face of the draconic invaders.

“Sleep well, child,” Luna whispered caringly as she brought her forefinger to close the remaining eye of the boy. “You’re at peace now…”

“Highness!” one of her sergeants called as he stormed inside the stable ruins.

“What is it?” Luna replied apathetically, while taking her own cloak to cover the young victim of the attack.

“We’ve just received an urgent message from the coastal surveillance,” he explained rapidly. “Another, much bigger Dracan fleet has been spotted heading a few hundreds miles North from here.”

“So, this attack was just a diversion for a much larger scale one?” Luna asked sourly, before the sergeant answered that he supposed so. “Just how many are they on that wretched island of theirs?”

“According to the report we receive, they’re also accompanied by a large group of wyrmlings lead by an adult dragon rider,” The sergeant added slowly. “Do you want me to get the men ready for departure?”

“Yes, do th….” Luna suddenly blinked and snapped her head in direction of the North.

“Your Highness?” he called with caution.

“Hummm,” Luna let out with a pensive frown. “Actually, let’s finish our task here,” she ordered calmly. “Then, we’ll head back to Canterlot when the regular Guard arrives to secure the area.”

“But,.. but, what about that enemy fleet?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Luna assured with a shake of her head. “It’ll never reach our shores!”

“...Huh… How do you know that, Majesty?”

“I know,” Luna replied matter-of-factly before glancing back at the North. It seems like Celestia finally decided to move her large behind …

"Hvad var det?" [What was that?]

"Til at starte med var der en kvinde med vinger der råbte noget til kommandøren og derefter..." [There was that winged woman shouting something to the commander then......]

"Urgh, mine øjne er helt sløret..." [Urgh, my eyes are all blurry…]

"... var et lystglimt..." [...was a flash…]

"...Et stort hvidt lysglimt..." [..Big white flash of light....]

All the Dracans sailors mumblings and complains were abruptly interrupted by a loud crash on the main deck. The entire crew looked at the point of impact, seeing with dread the lifeless body of the commander of their fleet.

"KOMMANDØR?!" [COMMANDER?!] Many shouted with dread while the captain of the ship kneeled at his side to examine him.

The scales around his neck were deployed, but the mark of a hand dug deeply into them, proof of the amazingly powerful grip that had choked him to death. Dozens of scared roared hisses came from the sky, made them all turn their eyes away from their fallen leader. Immediately after, they all wished they hadn’t looked up.

In the air, a tall woman stood proudly, large wings of pure white slowly flapping in rhythm to maintain her altitude. Her skin was evenly tanned, something that contrasted deeply with her white outfit.

She wasn’t wearing any armor; her only clothing was a light summer dress with thin, shoulder straps that kept a voluminous cleavage from showing too much; her dress was slit on both side, so that the outer sides of her legs were visible because of the high altitude winds.

Other than her light dress, the woman bore no accessories other than a simple golden band with a purple diamond embedded in it and a similar tiara that adorned her mystically waving pink hair. Had they seen her in other circumstances, many Dracans would have bowed before her: treating her with the same grace and regality that seemed to simply come out of her.

They probably would have done so, if not for the red dragon ten times her size with the head impaled on the blade of the golden glaive the woman was holding with her right arm, as if the massive body weighted the same as a small patch of hay on top of a pitchfork.

The regal woman waved her weapon and her kill a few times for all the Dracan raiders to see as the airborne wyrmlings simply flew away at the sight of their killed, older kin before she gave a sharp blow with it. A blow that made the deceased, scaly monster slid off her weapon.

The red dragon touched the waters with a loud splash and big waves that rocked the nearby boats strongly. The wyrm was kept afloat for a short time before the abysses claimed it as their own.

“PREPARE YOURSELF, CHILDREN OF ZIRNITRA,” Celestia called in the Royal Canterlot Voice. “FOR I, CELESTIA CORONA FAUSTBORN OF EQUESTRIA, HAVE COME…

Celestia skillfully span her weapon between her fingers, then grabbed its shaft with both hands and took a spearmen stance, her blade pointing at the closest ship, on which she had thrown their defiant commander earlier.

Her flowing, pink hair stood up right, its color changing to a blazing mix of orange, red and yellow, making it look like a brilliant flame, while her eyes shone in a blinding, golden hue.

“...TO ANNIHILATE YOU!” she concluded before flying downwards at the speed of a fiery meteor.

Author's Notes:

That was the first Chapter!

It was about Time I give Tia and Lulu some proper love!

What do you think?
Good? Bad? OP? Not OP Enough?

More characters should make their apparitions in the next chapter, a few that some of you might expect while others not really

Hoping you liked it,
Mariacheat-Brony